††††††††††† In mid
August, I learned of a charter in Cornwall using a Classic. Since Iíve never
ridden Cornwall Transit, I thought it would be fun. This happened a week after the
Niagara Double Decker charter and the weekend before the TTSís 2012
Transportation Weekend. My plan was to ride VIA train 56 to Cornwall the day
before and mess around the area and do some transit fanning and railfanning.
The next day, I would go on the charter before catching VIA train #65 back
home. The trip unfolded as follows.

August 24,
2012:

††††††††††† My mom gave
me a ride to the Langstaff GO station. I was planning on taking the 8:01 am GO
train to Union. When we arrived, I saw the GO train before the one I intended
to take depart. That was no big deal. I bought a ticket to Union and waited for
the train. When it arrived, I photographed it.

††††††††††† I got a
window seat on the upper level of the cab car. The GO train soon departed. Just
over 30 minutes later, we arrived at Union. We actually arrived a few minutes
early. As we approached Union, I saw the locomotive of train 56 sticking out. I
photographed it.

††††††††††† I also saw
the Northlander awaiting its 8:40 am departure. However I was unable to
photograph it. The GO train soon stopped in Union station. I got off and
photographed it.

††††††††††† I also
photographed the equipment from VIA train #82.

††††††††††† I then
entered Union Station. On the way, I passed a group of people. For some reason,
one of them was dressed like a pirate! I joined the cue line for VIA train #56.

††††††††††† Boarding of
train 56 began shortly after 9:00 am. Even though I had an economy class
ticket, I was seated in LRC Business class coach #3472! I chose a window seat
on the left hand side of the train. We departed one minute late.

††††††††††† As we
passed the TTC's Greenwood yard, I filmed the equipment inside. I could see
some retired H-4 subway cars in the yard.

††††††††††† West of
Oshawa, VIA train 41 passed, but I was unable to film it. When we passed the DRT
garage in Whitby, I saw an XD40 in the yard. We stopped at Oshawa a few minutes
later. My ticket was taken after we left Oshawa.

††††††††††† Train 53
passed at 10:35 am, but I was unable to film it. We stopped at Cobourg.

††††††††††† As we
passed the Memory Junction museum, I filmed it. We later passed through Trenton
Junction and Belleville non-stop. VIA train #43 passed, but I was unable to
film it.

††††††††††† We later
stopped at Kingston. I gained a seatmate in Kingston. We soon departed.

††††††††††† VIA train
#57 passed. As it passed, I filmed it. I then made my way to the last car and
photographed the locomotive of train 54.

††††††††††† The train
stopped to separate trains 56 and 54. The HEP went out. I watched the procedure
from the last car of train 56. When the trains were separated, I took one more
photo of the locomotive on train 54.

††††††††††† The power
was soon restore as train 56 moved away from train 54. I filmed train 54
getting further away. I made my way back to my coach seat. We stopped at
Brockville and departed a couple minutes later. East of Brockville, we overtook
and eastbound CN freight train. We were getting close to Cornwall. I readied my
stuff in preparation to get off in Cornwall. VIA train #61 raced past, but I
was unable to film it.

††††††††††† Train 56
arrived into Cornwall 11 minutes late. I got off and photographed the train.

††††††††††† I filmed
train 56 departing. I then took one more photo of the train.

††††††††††† I decided
to walk to my motel. It took a long time, but I eventually made it. Along the way,
I saw Cornwall Transit Classic #9137 pass. I checked in to my motel. I was
staying at the Cornwall Lodge.

††††††††††† I went to
my room and relaxed for awhile and I also worked on this report some more.
Eventually, I decided to go out to try and ride at least one Cornwall Transit
Classic. I walked a few blocks to a bus stop. While waiting, I bought a bottle
of lemonade. An El-Dorado EZ-Rider showed up. I rode it to the transit center
downtown. I saw a couple more EZ-Riders in service. I looked down the street and
saw a Classic. It turned, but I thought it was just going to come in on a
different street. I turned out to be right. The Classic was 1985 built GM
Classic #8558. I photographed it before I got on.

††††††††††† #8558 was
running on the Eastern Industrial route. I had heard that the Classics mostly
run on industrial routes. I was the only passenger on the bus! As the bus left,
I saw Classic #9137 was running on route 1; a regular route. However, I
couldn't photograph it from #8558.

††††††††††† I rode
#8558 a few stops before I got off and filmed it pulling away. I saw Classic
#9137 a few blocks away going away from me. At first, I thought about riding
back to the transit center, but I checked a Cornwall Transit map I got and
realized I could ride 9137 sooner if I walked one stop before the stop I was at
and I was right. When #9137 showed up, I photographed it.

††††††††††† The driver
asked why I was taking pictures. I gave her an honest response. At least she
didn't say I was not allowed to.† I rode
#9137 to the transit center and got off and photographed it.

††††††††††† I saw
Classic #8558 again. I also photographed 8558.

††††††††††† I then
filmed #9137 pulling away. After, I walked around Cornwall's waterfront for
awhile. I photographed a few things while I was down there.

††††††††††† After
awhile, I made my way back to the transit center. I took one more photo of
Classic #9137.

††††††††††† I boarded
an El-Dorado EZ-Rider and rode to a McDonald's I passed on the way to my motel.
I had dinner there. After, I caught another EZ-Rider North and attempted to do
some railfanning. However, I wasn't able to photograph any trains. I did see
VIA train #64 pass by led by a rebuilt F40PH-2, but I was unable to film it.

††††††††††† I caught a
bus back to my hotel. I went into the lobby and found out that since I had an
economy room, I wasn't entitled to a free breakfast! I wasn't pleased with that
since I've had free breakfasts at other hotels in which I've paid less per
night than the Cornwall Lodge!

††††††††††† I looked
around for a restaurant to have breakfast before I figured I could eat at an
A&W near my motel. I returned to my room and worked on this report some
more. I called a taxi company and booked a taxi for 10:00 am. I eventually
called it a night.